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Welcome to the website of the National Information Officers Association. Today, with the public and media’s enormous hunger for information, the role of the NIOA as a support and training association for communications professionals across North America has expanded and evolved. From humble beginnings, the association has grown to cover the United States and Canada, even Australia and the Cayman Islands. Today we are more than 500 members strong – and are dedicated to the unique needs of emergency and first-response communicators. The NIOA prides itself on being an outstanding resource for members and hosts an excellent training conference each year. The conference gives members the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business and perhaps more important, network with colleagues and peers close-by, across the country – or in some cases – around the world. Our membership is divided by FEMA Region (see geographic region), so members in each region are likely to work together in the event of an emergency. Our annual training conference is tailored specifically to the needs of public information officers in the fields of emergency services and government front-line spokespersons. Our topics of discussion revolve around current events, many involving large-scale media coverage, from the past year. In 2007, our conference featured speakers who were key communicators during the Virginia Tech tragedy and Amish school shootings in Pennsylvania. They shared their experiences, best practices and ‘lessons learned’ with conference attendees. We also provide professional development opportunities to help members hone their skills. Recent presentations have included how to conduct a citizen’s academy, marketing your agency, internal and external communications and, of course, crisis communications. In addition, each year the NIOA offers a basic and advanced PIO class – a great perk for those who have not received formal training, or those who want to pick up a few more tips – and it’s offered free of charge for those attending the conference.
Throughout the year, members are kept abreast of relevant and topical
information through the NIOA bi-monthly newsletter. This newsletter
includes timely articles, briefs about recent legal rulings that may
affect you or your agency, items on best practices, and even a section
where we turn the spotlight on the media. |
